Hands off Sir Chris!

Leave Sir Chris alone. The man is a national institution, set to equal the British record for Olympic golds and strongly tipped to carry our flag in the opening ceremony for the Games.

How dare the Guardian slag off our greatest-ever track rider by linking him with last week’s tax avoidance scandal?

The broadsheet compared Hoy’s conduct to the antics of comedian Jimmy Carr, who used a company to slash his tax burden.

The paper then complained: “But if some might expect such behaviour from a footballer, or even a comedian, what about an Olympic hero whose sporting development is at least partly the result of lottery funding?”

Hoy hit back with a heartfelt statement to set the record straight: “Everything I have done is as a UK resident, and is UK taxable and not offshore. My lottery funding, which I am very grateful for, stopped in October 2008. I am very proudly British. I take my responsibilities as a taxpayer as seriously as I do as an athlete. I sincerely hope this misleading article does not affect the British support I know I will need to perform at my best in London.”

why is it the brutish always slag off British champions… why do they print rubbish about British champions..why???? to sell newspapers,,,, sad day for cyclists…G

JeffGoldblumIII

Just because he has a shot at Olympic success doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be held to account. I’m probably naive to believe his response but the article was hardly hugely scathing, it said that it was a little bit suspicious – and we know in cycling there’s rarely smoke without fire. They barely slagged him off anyway and, again, even if he is a great track rider, he should be held accountable about his taxpaying. After all, everything is black-and-white in Chris Hoy’s world, isn’t it?